03/26/2018

Triphora Orchid Found in Northeast Brazil

A team of botanists has discovered that Triphora, a genus of orchid made up of 19 species, has a larger range than previously known. Specifically, T. amazonica, a small orchid (7-14.5 cm) with 1-3 pink flowers, a wine-colored stem, and green, membranous leaves, was found in the northeast of Brazil, in the Atlantic Forest domain of Bahia. Previously, this orchid was known to exist in Florida, the West Indies, Guiana, and the northwestern Brazilian state of Amazonas. Authors Tiago Luiz Vieira (Smithsonian Institution), Climbiȇ Ferreira Hall (Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Brazil), and Fábio de Barros (Instituto de Botânica, Brazil) published their findings in the journal Hoehnea (44: 246-250; 2017).

Historically, a member of a difficult to categorize and occasionally “anomalous” taxa, this finding has provided new information on Triphora's distribution. In their article the scientists provide maps and commentary on the orchid's expanded distribution. They state that the existence of Triphora and other similar geographically split species lend credence to the idea that the forest type which splits the distribution of this species, was formally all the same forest type.

Triphora amazonica's conservation status is of Least Concern (LC), but the authors suggest that natural populations of the species may contain only a few individuals since there are few specimens in herbaria. In any case, the discovery of the increased range of T. amazonica is an interesting addition to the story of this odd orchid.